Week 14 – Margaret River to Albany…and back to Perth…or was that Sydney??

With the threat of rain lingering in the week ahead and the possibility that I might need to fly back to Sydney for a job interview (a random phonecall the Friday before was sounding promising) we decided to head to the Margaret River and just brace ourselves for a wet week.

We headed down firstly to Donnybrook, and the southern hemisphere’s biggest playground.  Needless to say the boys ad a ball, and I think even Bronnie had fun going down all the slides as well.  After my efforts on the slides in Kings Park in Perth I have now decided I am too big and getting unstuck in small slides is ok but getting myself unstuck from halfway down a 20metre spiraling slide another story altogether.  We then went to Busselton to walk out the jetty, just because that is what you do.  The jetty goes forever, the observatory was closed but the walk out to the end proved to be amazing as we watched another whale rolling around and playing about 20metres from the jetty. 

We set up camp at a place called Taunton Park, just outside of Cowaramup (a town with about 80 cow statues up and down the main street and around the town) which is about 15kms north of the Margaret River township.  We managed to get on the really grassy area beside the playground, just outside the paddock containing the boar, cows, horses and sheep so there was a real country smell.  We cooked in the big BBQ shed,  with the pot belly stove for warmth and listened as the rain came…and stayed for what would turn out the next 3 days straight.  Not all bad though, the rain was at least courteous to stop everytime we needed to go to the amenities block or when we got in and out of the car to see stuff during the day….and the tent held up beautifully in the rain, and the grass drained away so all in all our first real rain was no problem.

Around the Margaret River we went underground in the Jewel Cave which was quite incredible and every bit as good if not better than Jenolan Caves.  We climbed up mainland Australia’s highest lighthouse at Cape Leeuwin at 39m high where we saw where the Southern and Indian Oceans meet.  We spent an hour trying to find our way through a big wooden maze.  We walked along the coast walk at Cape Naturaliste.

But best of all we did what you should really go to the Margaret River for…not a single winery visited (will save this for a trip without kids) but cheese tasting (and bought), yoghurt tasting (and bought), fudge tasting (and bought), Margaret River Chocolate Company (free tastings, and free tastings, and free tastings, and free tastings…and bought) and finally, because we ran out of time the day before, breakfast at the Millers Ice Creamery where we shared an 8 scoop tasting plate and I had a thickshake made with chocolate and cheeky monkey (banana and chocolate) ice cream…was just like a Bumbaks smoothie, only chocolate!

Then on to Albany we went stopping to climb the Gloucester tree at Pemberton and do the treetop walk at the Valley of the Giants just east of Walpole.  The Gloucester Tree amazes me they let it happen.  61m high and 176 metal spikes spiralling around the trunk with nothing but chicken wire for safety, you eventually come out on a platform.  A few more spike to another platform and then a ladder to the top platform and you are up above the canopy with amazing views of the countryside and surrounding forest.  Halfway up Bron, after 17 years together tells me she is scared of heights….I guess you learn something new about your partner everyday, but this fact is one I would have preferred to learn on the ground.  Doesn’t matter, the streak of determination she possesses got her to the top, tightly hanging on, forgot to look at the view and then down she went again.  Alex and I went back up, thinking Alex would get 20m up and want to come down but no, he went all the way up and took it all in as well.  All up, the Gloucester Tree was one of those unexpected little treats you find when travelling.

The Tree Top Walk and the Valley of the Giants was a more sedate suspended walkway that rose to about 40 metres as you walked around the 600m trail.  Gave Lachie a great chance to see t he trees and the forest and the canopy, and again the rain held off while we were out of the car.

We drove through to Albany, arriving and setting up after dark but at least in the dry.  Two nights of rain interrupted by a brilliant blue sky day gave us a chance to have a good look around Albany, more brilliant coastal landscapes, the King George Sound dotted with islands at the mouth, a farmers market on the Saturday morning and a town that had a real feel of homeliness about it.

Come Saturday and we headed back to Perth so that I could fly back to Sydney on the Sunday for a job interview.  Discussions through the week had gone well, and so back to Freo to set up before jumping on the plane Sunday lunchtime for a whirlwind 30 hours before returning to Perth on Monday night.

Bronnie and the boys while I was gone had fun on the free CATs, the bus service around Freo, the train to Subiaco in search of Subiaco Oval only to be thwarted by more rain and a stroll along the beach before returning to the airport to pick me up on Monday night.